Pages

The Water Cure

Arnamentia (or Arnametia) was an Anglo-Celtic goddess of
spring waters and of healing. The last part of her name was taken from
‘nemeton,’ which was a sacred grove of trees where druids worshipped. Usually,
those groves would be near water, for water marked the entrance to the
OtherWorld and offered great healing powers.

Oh, Arnamentia, where the heck are you? Ireland needs you now . . .

This month marks the first time ever that Irish people will
have to pay for water. It’s a utility long taken for granted in this country
because we have so much of it. Unfortunately, the water we are now paying for
is often polluted or carcinogenic. And people are angry. Many picketed in
protest against the water charges, and threatened not to pay. There’s a video
on Facebook showing how to remove the water meters that have been installed.
Shops are selling giant plastic rain barrels so people can collect water for
free. On the radio, DJs joke about not washing dishes and drinking alcohol
instead of water.

And in the middle of all this angst and controversy, I
started:

The Water Cure

By now, most people have heard of the water cure, but just
in case you haven’t, I’ll share a bit of what I know and am learning about this
interesting antidote. Originally, I started this cure to help lower my blood
pressure naturally, without harmful pharmaceuticals, but I’ve been pleasantly
surprised to find that it’s also helped my achy old-dancer joints and even
helped me lose a bit of weight without trying.

In the early 1990s, a physician named Fereydoon
Batmanghelidj (he’s mercifully referred to as ‘Dr. Batman’ for short) published
a book entitled, YOUR BODY'S MANY CRIES FOR WATER. The book describes his discovery
that chronic dehydration is the root cause of many ailments, including Asthma
and allergies, Obesity, High cholesterol, Heart disease and stroke, Diabetes, Hypertension,
Infection, Depression and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Sleep disorders, Lack of
energy, Addiction, Osteoporosis, Leukaemia and Lymphoma, Attention Deficit
Disorder, Hot flushes, Gout and Kidney stones. Batman’s byline is: You’re not sick; you’re thirsty. Don’t treat
thirst with medication. That’s wonderfully provocative, especially when you
consider that water is cheaper than medication. Dr. Batman asserted that most
people don’t even know they need water, as dry mouth is the last sign of
dehydration. He also said that people drink less as they age, thereby aging
faster.

Here’s how The Water Cure works:

1.Water.
Calculate half your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 300 pounds that
would be 150 ounces. You’d drink 150 ounces of purified, not tap water per day, divided into at least six servings.
For a 300 pound person, that would be roughly three 8-ounce cups of water six
times a day. But, the good news is, that 300 pound person would begin losing
weight quickly, so he or she could drink less!

Most conventional physicians
will tell you to cut out salt or sodium to lower blood pressure. But Himalayan
Pink Salt is very different from basic table salt. Both are sodium chloride,
but table salt is like white flour – it has been stripped of minerals and its ‘good’
properties. According to Dr. Batman (I love that name), the human body needs the minerals in pure salt.

3. Timing. Dr. Batman said that when we drink water is important. I was drinking more than half my body weight in water before I started this cure, but I was sipping it, and usually drinking quite a bit with meals. Drinking when you eat is okay,
but your body uses that water to help digest the food, and it then leaves your
body. Water is really important on a cellular level, and it needs to remain in
your body for about two hours. This means we need to drink a fair amount of it in
between meals so that it can get into the cells and our bodies can really use
it. For that reason, there’s a schedule
to this cure.

First thing in the morning, take a pinch of
salt and dissolve it on your tongue, then drink your first amount of water (1/6th
of half your total weight in ounces). This water should be consumed in five minutes
or less.

Wait 30 minutes.

Eat breakfast

Wait 2 to 2 ½ hours. Do not consume anything except water, if you wish, for
those two hours.

After that 2 to 2 ½ hour wait, repeat the
whole process.

Do this a total of six times each day.

Right away, I think of a friend of mine who says she ‘hates
the taste of water.’ Bizarre, but true. For people who ‘hate’ water, adding a
bit of organic vanilla extract to the water can make it palatable. As an added
bonus, Christiane Northrup, M.D. says that organic vanilla extract added to water
can help regulate thyroid function.

Now, with a heightened awareness of the importance of water,
I’ll say a silent prayer to the goddess Arnamentia and ask for her help with
the whole Irish water situation. Maybe she can help my fellow countrymen understand
that we should be boycotting water quality rather than water charges. If the Irish
government would use the money we pay to actually purify our drinking water,
then maybe that water would quench our anger, and cure a load of other problems.